


Right This Second

by kyouyaed



Category: Watch Dogs (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Death, Established Relationship, Guns, M/M, Suicide, zombie apocalypse AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 12:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3937126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyouyaed/pseuds/kyouyaed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hey," he said softly, not surprised when JB launched to his feet and pulled out his pistol. Zombies couldn't talk, but that didn't mean an unfriendly human wasn't there. "It's just me," he stated in that same soft, calm voice.</p><p>A grin spread across JB's face and he moved over, pressing a kiss to Aiden's cheek. "Wondered when you'd find me, Pearce," he taunted.</p><p><b>//</b>The one where looting the mall could have gone infinitely better, but at least they're not zombies.<b>//</b></p>
            </blockquote>





	Right This Second

**Author's Note:**

> So... For my first WD fic, I present to you a zombie au fic. I wrote this because a certain someone told me he likes my writing and he vaguely told me to write some AidenDefalt angst. I don't usually like zombie aus, but I figured it would work. After waffling over the ending, I picked the one I did because... It just fit? Expect the things you usually expect from a zombie au, I guess, although there's not a lot of gore or violence because... that's too much for my ass to handle.
> 
> This has not been proof read, so forgive me and let me know if you see any mistakes. ( Read It [On Tumblr](http://conspiracieys.tumblr.com/post/118938369302/right-this-second))

There was silence. Which was odd these days. Usually Aiden had his... Partner? He didn't want to say boyfriend, that felt flippant. Husband was wrong, fiance was... Unofficial. Everything else felt wrong. Person? Maybe. His person. Aiden usually had his person chattering his ear off. Even in an infested area, JB Markowicz could be counted on for a little bit of commentary. Everything Aiden did got commentary. So the silence was unsettling.

"Jay?" Aiden called, glancing around. They were in a shopping mall, looting. Aiden had warned JB to stay close to him because the territory was unknown; if JB got hurt, Aiden would never forgive himself. "JB?" An unwelcome amount of panic leaked into his voice, then, when he didn't immediately find the younger man. The silence really did not bode well. "Okay, I'm worried. You got me, JB. Please come out."

A laugh pierced the air and, although Aiden jumped, it was reassuring. Readjusting his grip on his shot gun, Aiden set off slowly in the general direction of the laugh. He knew JB had to be on the first floor; the first thing they'd done when they got there was check the stairs and escalators, and they were all ruined and impossible to climb. Another laugh sounded and Aiden let his shoulders relax a bit.

"JB, this isn't the time," he groused, glancing around to make sure there wasn't unwanted company. He was alone, and so he crept onward. Aiden made note as he passed a few food places and a cell phone store; they would have to come back, after JB was done screwing around.

A sudden chill went down Aiden's spine and he tensed instantly, cocking his gun. He whirled around and froze as the barrel of his gun bumped the nose of a single zombie. He glanced around and felt a trickle of relief when he found that there was only one zombie near him. If there was one zombie, though, then others would be near. The zombies travelled in disgusting packs. A gunshot, especially from his shot gun, would alert the zombies that he was there. And with JB wandered off, Aiden dreaded doing that. The younger only had his pistol on him because Aiden was the better shot. But this zombie was nearly breathing down his neck and he would die if he didn't take the shot.

He pulled the trigger and looked away to avoid zombie face splatter on his own face. When the body thumped against the floor, Aiden set off quickly although he made sure to keep low to the ground. It was lucky that zombies' first instinct was to look eye-level, so unless zombie children were around, Aiden had a few seconds advantage to kill.

Another laugh echoed through the mall, closer this time, but on the opposite side of the hallway of the mall Aiden was on. What was JB doing? Aiden glanced down both sides of the hall. No zombies. He took the chance and darted across the way, pressing himself against a sign the second he was across. No footsteps, no ragged breathing. Just silence. Aiden peered around the sign and let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Cautiously, Aiden slipped around the sign and crept down the row of store fronts, peering in each one for signs of life.

There was a faint glow from the third store Aiden passed. It seemed to be a toy store. Of course JB would find the toy store. Aiden rolled his eyes and slipped through the shattered glass of the door, staying low as he crept around. He had assumed the glow was a fire, and zombies hated fire, but that didn't lower his guard. He doubted anything would ever lower his guard. A soft giggle started Aiden and his instinct was to drop to the floor and drag himself quietly across it. His backpack pressed down on him in a way that was slightly suffocating, but he brushed it off and kept crawling. Aiden kept one arm pressed to the base of a shelf as he crawled toward the light. It took him longer to crawl than it would have taken him to walk in a crouch, but it was definitely better safe than sorry.

When he reached the end of the shelf, Aiden peered around it, praying to a god he didn't believe in that JB was around the corner. By whatever gods still watched over Earth, it was. The younger man was sitting next to a fire with an electronic device in his hands and a grin on his face. Aiden couldn't tell from the distance he was at what JB was playing on.

For a moment, he was reminded of their time before the zombies. Back when they had a shitty apartment (not because that's all they could afford, but because in the life of Fixers and Hackers, cheap and anonymous was best) with no heating and water that sometimes ran warm and sometimes ran orange. When they first hated living together, hated seeing each other, and were doing it out of necessity because Damien Brenks thought it would be cute to put bounties on their heads. Back when things were easier and they could just sit around and do nothing but play on their phones or laptops in semi-companionable silence.

Aiden shook himself and carefully stood. JB giggled again and Aiden moved around the corner.

"Hey," he said softly, not surprised when JB launched to his feet and pulled out his pistol. Zombies couldn't talk, but that didn't mean an unfriendly human wasn't there. "It's just me," he stated in that same soft, calm voice. The voice only JB got to hear anymore. After they went to St. Louis and found Nicky and Jacks... Like they were, Jackson, completely mangled with a bullet through his head, and Nicky a sobbing mess with one arm and no legs and a bullet through her head before the infection spread through her, Aiden only had JB to talk to softly.

A grin spread across JB's face and he moved over, pressing a kiss to Aiden's cheek. "Wondered when you'd find me, Pearce," he taunted. Not letting Aiden respond, he turned and gestured to the fire. "I thought ahead! Be proud of me!"

Aiden chuckled and gave JB's shoulder a slight shove. "I am," he said, amusement coloring his voice. "What did you find? Something useful?"

JB was silent a moment too long, which mean he did not find anything useful. "A teddy bear," JB stated flatly. "You always need someone to cuddle at night."

Rolling his eyes, Aiden said, "I have you."

JB was quick to retort. "Not when you're on watch! And I don't have anyone when I'm on watch!" He spun around and gave Aiden a pout that the ex-Fixer could never resist. "Please! Can we keep him?"

"Fine, fine," Aiden said, chuckling. And then, more seriously, "We need to leave. Where there's one-"

"- There's hundreds," JB finished, sighing. "Don't patronize, Pearce. I didn't hack the Bunker by being an idiot."

"I wasn't patronizing," Aiden argued. "I was informing." JB gave him a look that said, no, he was patronizing. Aiden didn't deign him with a response. "Fine, fuck you too." Aiden rolled his eyes and shifted his grip on his shot gun.

"Get your bear," Aiden replied instead of addressing JB's comment. JB complied after making a face at Aiden. "Leave the fire. It'll buy us time."

In an easy motion, JB reached out and took Aiden's free hand. They laced fingers and it was hard to say who squeezed first, but neither stopped squeezing. Together, they rounded the corner Aiden had come from and dropped to crouches, keeping low as they crept along.

Aiden froze as they reached the end of the shelf. There were zombies milling around outside of the store. There were only three, but there were only two humans, too. Aiden had been right. Where there was one, there were hundreds.

"Aiden?" JB whispered, his breath ghosting along Aiden's ear.

Aiden turned his head and their noses bumped. "Three zombies. For now."

"How far to the mall entrance?"

"Ten minutes creeping, five with a flat run," Aiden whispered after a moment's thought.

They both fell silent and Aiden turned his head slightly to keep an eye on the zombies. They were clustered together, looking like they were talking. From his distance away, Aiden would guess they were teenagers. As much as he hated it and it disgusted him, sometimes the zombies showed their previous humanity in how they lingered. He hated that he had been around long enough to observe the zombies, to know how they acted, to know that some parts of them struggled to cling to their humanity. Like how he hadn't fully realized Damien had been infected until he'd almost died, because Damien was... Temperamental, and if he was silent it was usually to mock Aiden, and he moved slowly anyway because of his leg. And if JB hadn't been there to cleave Damien's head off, there would be no creeping around malls and arguing over teddy bears.

"I can distract them." JB's whispered comment pulled Aiden back to the present. The zombies were still clustered together, which relieved Aiden.

"You could," Aiden agreed lowly. "But you won't." He gave JB a cutting look, but the younger man had long since grown immune to Aiden's anger.

"If I distract them, you can take them out and we can make a break for it," argued the ex-hacker.

Aiden gave one shake of his head. "The gunshots will draw out more zombies. We can't risk running into any on the way out." He sighed. "We came here to loot ammo, remember? I'm almost out."

JB cursed, but then his face lit up. "Wait... Wait... I saw a fog machine in the back. We can use that as cover and sneak out."

It sounded good, but there was one flaw. "Electricity?"

JB grinned. "No need. Battery operated." Aiden pursed his lips in thought. A movement near the zombies drew Aiden's attention. Two more zombies had joined the other three. JB's fog machine definitely seemed to be the best idea. Another zombie joined up with the five, then, and that cold chill that Aiden got when he was in danger ran down his back.

He took a quiet breath and shifted, his grip on JB's hand tightening. "Jay," he whispered, leaning in close. He pressed his forehead against JB's and sighed on his face. He felt rather than saw JB's face fall.

"No," was the whispered reply.

"I have lighter fluid," Aiden replied, pulling away to glance over his shoulder. The zombies were congregating in front of their toy store. Either the fire had drawn them in, or... Aiden didn't know. He had only noticed the fire because he'd been so close to the store. The zombies weren't close enough, though, so... Aiden didn't want to consider how the zombies knew where they were. The only thing that could possibly save them and get them out was another human coming into the mall unprepared for zombies.

"Aiden, no," JB whispered. "I don't want to die here."

Aiden faced JB again and his heart ached at the tears in his lover's eyes.

"Me either," he admitted, squeezing JB's hand. JB dropped the teddy bear in his other hand and reached up, cupping Aiden's cheek. Aiden leaned into the touch, never taking his eyes off of JB.

The tears spilled down over JB's cheeks. "I don't want to leave you."

Aiden couldn't help but chuckle and he felt tears running down his own cheeks. "I'll believe in an after life, as long as I can see you there."

"We'll probably go to Hell," JB lamented.

"Hell it is, then," Aiden agreed before pulling away to glance at the zombies. No more had come, but now there were at least twenty just milling around. "We have to do this fast," he breathed, turning back to JB. He nudged the man and JB pulled back and snatched up the teddy bear before beginning a slow crawl back to his fire. Aiden kept close to him, shouldering his shot gun to make as little noise as possible.

JB crawled to the fire and grabbed a boxed toy off the shelf near it. He quietly tore the box apart, tossing the cardboard pieces into the fire to keep it going. Aiden watched him for a moment before setting his shot gun down softly and dropping his backpack. He unzipped it slowly so as not to make any noise and began rooting around in it.

His own pistol came out and a pile of clothes and towels followed. He dropped his first aid kit on top of the cloth disdainfully. It was a stab in the face from the universe that he'd stashed the lighter fluid at the bottom of his bag. It was always at the bottom, though. Always their last resort.

Aiden carefully repacked his backpack, including the shot gun, and he slid it up against the shelf. When he looked up, JB had already stripped down and tossed his clothes away from the fire. He was clutching the teddy bear like a lifeline and Aiden's heart ached. He handed the younger boy the lighter fluid and began his own quick and quiet strip down. And then, even though he knew it was pointless, Aiden peered around the shelf again. The zombies were still there, and it didn't look like they were moving any time soon.

"We could wait it out," JB whispered. "They'll leave sometime... Right?"

Aiden faced him and crept over, dropping down on his knees so they were brushing his lover's knees. JB had the lighter fluid in his hands but hadn't opened it. He was just staring at it, tears continuing to run down his face.

"I don't know," Aiden said. "I don't make a habit of studying zombies' habits. Keeping you alive... has always been my priority since day one."

JB looked up at him. "Is that the vigilante speaking, or my boyfriend?" Aiden got the impression that his statement was supposed to be humorous, but Aiden couldn't take it like that.

"Neither," he stated. "It's your fiance."

JB gave a shaky laugh. "A little late for that party, Pearce."

Aiden shrugged. "Better late than never, Mr. Pearce." And when JB didn't argue that, no, they would be the Markowicz's, Aiden knew that it was the end. "Let me," he said then, reaching out to take the lighter fluid from JB.

He uncapped it and hung his head as he brought up the bottle to drench himself. It didn't take very long and he was shaking his hair out of his face before he realized it. Aiden looked up at JB and sighed, licking some of the lighter fluid off of his lips.

"I'll do you, too," he murmured, moving his arms up to drench JB, and the teddy bear apparently, with lighter fluid as well. Within seconds, they both sat next to the fire, drenched in lighter fluid. Aiden shook the jug and emptied the jug on the floor next to them, trailing the fluid to his backpack. He struggled to unzip it but when he did, he trailed the lighter fluid into the back and down into his shot gun's barrel.

Jug empty, Aiden leaned away for a second to grab his pistol. When he turned back, JB had his own pistol in hand.

They'd planned this. From the beginning, they had a Lack of Vigilante Plan. JB said naming it something ridiculous would make it easier to talk about, but at the end of the day, it was a conversation about how they would die. They... Well, at least Aiden, knew it would always come down to this. In this zombie-ridden world with no scientists to speak of, this was how it would end. Zombies devoured fresh human flesh, from the living or recently deceased. A burnt corpse was of no nutritional value to zombies. (They'd tested it before.) That was how they decided that this was how it would end. Aiden wondered if JB never truly thought about it. If his lover always thought there would be a light at the end of this tortured road. He hoped not. Hope was a sad thing. Aiden learned that from the best and the worst.

The ex-fixer was pulled out of his thoughts by JB's hands on his shoulders. Aiden cocked his head to the side and blinked when JB kissed him roughly. It didn't last very long, and tears stained both their knees when JB pulled away.

"At the same time, or separate?" JB asked.

Aiden smiled humorlessly. "I need you to do it first," he stated. "So I can make sure your body..." JB shook his head and Aiden stopped explaining.

"Will you at least hold me?" was the next thing JB asked.

"Yes," Aiden said without hesitation, opening his arms to his lover. JB was in his grip instantly. It was Aiden who initiated the next kiss, though it didn't last much longer than the last. When he pulled away, he pressed his forehead to JB's. "I love you," he whispered. "I love you, JB Markowicz." His tears dripped onto JB's face and the younger nodded.

"And I love you too, you stupid fucking Fixer. I love you, Aiden."

Aiden pulled away, with much reluctance, and JB gripped tightly onto the teddy bear with one arm, bringing his pistol up with his other. Aiden didn't look away. He held eye contact the entire time. Aiden wouldn't let JB feel alone. The entire five minutes it took JB to put the gun in his mouth, Aiden only blinked. JB whimpered and Aiden brought a hand up to curl around the hand on the gun.

"Do you want me to?" Aiden asked. JB looked torn. "I can handle it. I'm going to die anyway, Jay." A beat passed and JB let his own hand go and brought it down to clutch the teddy bear instead.

Taking a deep, steeling breath, Aiden twisted the gun in JB's mouth slightly and pulled the trigger. He didn't allow himself a moment's rest, knowing that the gunshot would have alerted the zombies to their presence. He shifted JB's body carefully, delicately, and set him on the fire.

It took Aiden a few seconds to get himself in a position where he knew his body would hit the fire when he pulled his own trigger. The gun settled easily in his mouth, and Aiden would be the first to admit he'd attempted suicide before but seeing JB's sleeping face always pulled him out of it. Now, though, he knew that face wasn't sleeping. It wasn't even a face anymore.

Aiden let out a soft sob around the muzzle of his gun at the sight of the fire eating away at JB's body. He severely hoped the younger man had died instantly, so he wouldn't feel the pain of burning alive. He let out another sob when he heard the familiar, telltale sounds of the zombies moaning and shuffling into the toy store.

Aiden didn't need five minutes. He didn't need five seconds, but he took the five seconds to just admire JB Markowicz, to admire his fifteen minute fiance, but four year life partner. And then Aiden Pearce pulled the trigger of the gun in his mouth to join JB in whatever Hell they were destined for.


End file.
